A large muscular body covered hers hungrily taking what it wanted. At first, she found pleasure in the act but as the movements became more intense, she started to feel pain and wondered why Matt was being so rough. Opening her eyes, Kitty screamed when the face that looked back at her wasn't that of her husband!

"Matt," Kitty said sitting straight up. Running her hands across the top of the bed coverings she searched for the man who had become her lover and her protector.

Matt turned around when Kitty screamed. His large frame silhouetted in the moon light that streamed though the sheers on the windows. "I'm right here, Kitty!" he said going to her.

"What are you doing over there?" she asked watching him as he came toward the bed.

"Just couldn't sleep," Matt replied taking a seat next to her. "You alright?" he said pulling her into his arms.

"Just a dream," she said quietly breathing in his scent but Matt sensed something else.

"Tell me?" he said huskily.

"It was Bonner," she said after a time as Matt sucked in a deep breath. "I haven't dreamed about him in years. Why now?"

"I've been thinking," Matt said putting a hand on her belly. "Maybe we should...go away for a while."

"Are you serious?" Kitty replied quickly. "You've got your test coming up and Doc would never let me leave so close to the baby being born."

"It was his suggestion," Matt replied hesitantly. "You can ask him tomorrow and then we'll decide."

"Alright," Kitty said quietly but in the back of her mind, she wondered why Matt was thinking about leaving Dodge.

"You sleep now," Matt said giving her a passionate kiss.

"I will if you come back to bed," Kitty replied taking his hand. "I need to feel you next to me."

Newly took Vera's hand in his and squeezed it tightly as his sedated wife slept alone in the ward upstairs from the clinic. Doc and Robert had been unable to find the cause of her pain. And after discussing it with him, they had decided that doing exploratory surgery in the morning, maybe the only way to find an
answer.

"How's she doing," Newly asked when Robert came in a few hours later to check her vital signs.

"I think, she maybe running a slight fever," Robert replied with a worried look. The physician knew the pain in Vera's abdomen could be from any number of problems but a fever definitely complicated matters because it meant Vera had an infection that her body was trying to fight. "I wouldn't worry about, Newly. It's just a symptom of whatever is going on."

"I think your forgetting that I've been trained with Doc for a few years," he said frowning. "If it's an infection, what could it be from."

"Well, infections in the abdomen of woman most likely indicate the female organs," Robert stated factually.

"Could that explain why she hasn't been able to conceive?"

"Yes," Robert said thoughtfully. "It could explain a great number of things."

Festus yawned as he stood up and stretched before looking around. The room was like so many other town jails he'd visited over the years. In the center of it stood a battered, wooden table. A pot bellied stove stood in the corner, an ubiquitous coffee pot in place still holding the strong black brew that he loved to drink at all hours of the day and night. On the wall, behind Newly's desk, was a board with the latest wanted posters. They were pinned haphazardly and overlapping each other. But, what made this room stand out from all the other's he'd been to, was that it had belonged to Matt first and foremost and the memories and comradery shared here would never be forgotten.

It had been late when Newly's brother in law had come to the house and told him the Marshal needed him to take the shift at the jail tonight so he could stay with his ailing wife. Festus had willing agreed to taking the shift because he knew if the roles were reversed, the lawman would have gladly done the same for him.

He contemplated going to bed in one of the cells since the town was relatively quiet. But a noise beyond the door to the alley suddenly caught his attention. Drawing his pistol, he slowly opened the door and looked out just in time to see a large tom cat run by.

"Why, you little scamp!" the hill man said putting his pistol away. "Go do yer prowlin' some place else."

He watched the cat run toward the boardwalk before shutting the door and then turned around as a shadow caught the corner of his eye. Whirling around, he reached for his gun but didn't even have time to clear it from its holster before Bonner grabbed him by one hand around his throat.

As Jude pushed him against the brick wall, he wondered if it was possible that the man had gotten bigger over the years and more powerful as well.

"Where is he?" Jude said tightly squeezing Festus around the neck but the hill man refused to give an answer. "I said, where is he!"

"Gone," Festus grated out. "He retired and left!"

"To where?" Bonner said lifting Fetus up off the floor by his neck.

"I don't know," Festus spat angrily as Jude squeezed his neck tighter.

"Your lying," he said with a sneer. "I'll kill you!"

"Then you'd best get on with it then cause I ain't a tellin you nothing!"